'2o8 The \]/ est American Scieniist. 



not as is usual in such cases * * * where the body of the 

 letter- is in the handwriting of a clerk, while the principal only 

 signs his name * * * 



Future historians of American science will appreciate the labor 

 and research of a man, who, thoroughly qualified to fill the posi- 

 tion he held, had the rare faculty of personally influencing his 

 associates, and imbuing them with a portion of his self-sacrificing 

 devotion * * * which combined with rare skill in organiza- 

 tion and great power of continuous application have accomplished 

 what few men could have done. 



The death of no other individual connected with the govern- 

 ment of the United States could leave so great a void, nor one so 

 difficult to till as has the death of Professor Baird. 



In his death the Smithsonian Institu'tion has lost its best worker, 

 and one who has done more than any other individual towards 

 the carrying out of the intensions of its founder in making it an 

 object of interest not alone to scientists of North America, but 

 throughout the civihzed world, and also to the general public. Its 

 evident usefulness under his administration convinced politicians 

 and statesmen of the necessity of fostering it and giving it such 

 national aid and countenance as would enable him to make it the 

 model institution of the world. He organized and built up the 

 institution in such a manner that his successors may, with perfect 

 safety, follow out his methods," 



GREAT DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS. 



The New York Times states that on a recent morning there 

 were 1300 dead birds at the foot of the statute of Liberty on 

 Bedloe's Island. They had dashed themselves against the light 

 during the night. These birds were flying south to escape the 

 cold. There were a hundred different species represented among 

 the dead. The largest bird was a Canadian woodpecker and the 

 smallest a humming bird. It is expected that thousands of birds 

 will perish because of this great light, which can be seen at a dis- 

 tance of thirty-six miles. 



The number of species given above is probably greatly ex- 

 aggerated. The San Francisco Chronicle gave the following 

 report: 



Professor Ridgway, curator of birds at the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, says the specimen birds which were sent to him from New York, 

 where they were found dead near the Bartholdi beacon light, are 

 nearly all of the species known as "warblers." They are insec- 

 tivorous. These birds are night-migratory in their movements, 

 and thousands have been attracted from all directions by the 

 brilliancy of the light and killed by flying against the glass. He 

 says scientists fear the destruction will be so great that the species 

 will become extinct before many years. He also reports that 



